A Sliver of Red
by sei-hikaru
Summary: Now, some men are dangerous. They try to be. And then there’s Sagara Sanosuke.
1. Of Bloodied Red

**A Sliver of Red**

**1st Sliver : Of Bloodied Red**

Notes and disclaimer: Characters belong to Nobuhiro Watsuki. Story is mine.

This is a sort-of spin-off from 'The Stages of Drowning Thyself' but you don't need to read that to understand this. I wanted to do something where I could basically write short chapters on a more frequent basis. I wanted to write something with Sano in it and I was going back and forth between Kaoru and Megumi. In the end, Megumi won, though I'm still contemplating a story with Kaoru. I'm not a big fan of Megumi though, so it would be interesting to write her. I hope to not drag this out too long, so hopefully it'll be an easy read for you and a fun time to write for me. :-)

This is rated 'M' as a precautionary measure. It's basically PG for the first few parts but knowing me, there's probably gonna be some action in the future.

C&Cs are most most welcomed and would really help spur me to write more often. *gentle coercion* Hope you enjoy the first part!

Hugs,

ikhlas

---

As children, girls were warned against the dangers of certain types of men. Those shady, slightly dangerous looking men who are 'up to no good'. No description is ever given to how these men look like but somehow these girls grew up and knew which men were precisely the ones their mothers, teachers, and other forms of caretakers had spoken of. While some girls shied away from these types of men, either afraid or not bothered by them, some are inexplicably attracted to the precise danger these men possess.

Now, some men are dangerous. They try to be.

And then there's Sagara Sanosuke.

Tall, towering over most of the population of his city, endowed with plenty of good looks that even the most sensible of ladies would find him appealing and bestowed with an abundance of raw male attractiveness and power – he was a coveted man who seemed to be similarly amused and annoyed at being coveted.

But asides from his obviously striking features, the reason why he brings such attraction is that he is actually a dangerous person. Known in the underworld for his stellar fighting abilities, he was rumored to have never backed down from a fight and had never come out on the losing end. And when he won, bloodied and sweat-drenched, the women clamored around him, hoping amongst all hope that they would be the lucky ones he chose to celebrate his victory with.

Rumors have it that the celebrating was much to be celebrated indeed.

Takani Megumi found all this to be an incredible turn-off.

It might have been because her friend Kaoru had been his friend and she had seen them fight too many times to think him as anything but a giant dunderhead. With the frequency in which she had seen him on the losing end of a pillow fight with her very small friend, she couldn't quite take all the rumors seriously.

Megumi rolled her eyes as she saw him walk up to her with a lop-sided grin. He was sporting a nasty looking bruise on his cheek, his knuckles seemed to be bloodied and he was walking with a limp. His injuries were, safe to say, a bit on the tame side today.

Megumi rolled her eyes again when she saw her nurses cast him shy, twittering glances.

"What have you done now, ahou?" For Megumi declared him exactly that – a person who made a living out of fights were definitely an 'ahou' in her books.

"Aw, kitsune-onna, are you charming me?" He practically sauntered up to her, not rising to her bait.

"I'm not fixing you up again." She said this as she took out her bandages, swabs and first-aid kit.

"I'm sure you won't." Sanosuke plopped himself on a stool, managing a grin.

"I think you come to me just to annoy me." Megumi declared bitingly.

She crossed her arms, tapping her foot in pretend (or maybe real) impatience as he took off his shirt and rolled up one leg of his pants. Megumi had seen him in several states of undress and had become accustomed to him casually taking off his clothes in front of her.

"I think it's the pleasure of your company." Sanosuke leaned forward, his easy grin making her frown. "It's funny how you're always grimacing when you're with me."

"It's because you come here to annoy me." Megumi deftly took his chin in her hand, eyeing the bruise on his face. "There are plenty of other doctors and clinics you could go to, but you choose to annoy me."

"I thought I was doing Jou-chan's friend a favor." Sanosuke's grin temporarily disappeared as Megumi pressed lightly on his bruise. "And I think you enjoy seeing me in pain."

Megumi stepped back and gave him a stern look.

"I'm a doctor. I don't enjoy seeing anyone in pain."

"Except me." Sanosuke smiled, showing off his perfect set of canines.

"I don't enjoy seeing anyone in pain." She repeated this with a touch of exasperation. Megumi shook her head and sighed. "I don't know why I bother defending myself. You obviously don't listen."

"I listen. I just pretend not to." Sanosuke watched as Megumi pick up his hand and inspect his wounds. "And I think you enjoy touching me."

"Hmmm…," Megumi pretended to think on that. "I think I might reconsider enjoying seeing you in pain."

Sanosuke gave a shout of laughter which abruptly changed into a yelp when Megumi exposed more of his wound.

"Hey! No need to inflict more pain!" Sanosuke's grin was wiped away and he was now scowling.

"You have fragments of glass in your knuckles." Megumi said matter-of-factly, raising an eyebrow. "That's why it hurts. I didn't do anything to cause all your injuries."

Megumi turned away to find tweezers and returned to find Sanosuke watching her with an odd smile on his face.

"You'd think that you'd like me more since I'm Jou-chan's friend." Sanosuke gave her his hand.

"I don't like you _because _you're Kaoru's friend." Megumi took a seat close to Sanosuke, slowly taking out delicate shards of glass from his wound. "Guys like you shouldn't be anywhere near a girl like Kaoru."

"So you don't like me because you think I'm a bad influence." Sanosuke made a grunting noise as Megumi patted a solution onto his skin.

"I _know _you're a bad influence." Megumi sighed. She felt like Sanosuke always drained her of energy whenever he came to visit.

"Are you afraid I would influence you into doing something you'd rather not do?" Sanosuke wiggled his eyebrows and grinned again.

"I have enough good sense to not even be tempted by you." Megumi got off of her seat and kneeled, her fingers moving to test the area around his ankle.

"Oh," Sanosuke's eyes held an interested glint, "So you find me tempting."

Megumi stopped her perusal of his injuries and gave him a sort-of mocking stare.

"Sano, you know very well you're a handsome guy." Megumi said plainly, speaking of his attributes like she would recite the properties of syphilis. "That is hardly up for debate. But I'm hardly about to be tempted by the likes of you."

---

Megumi might not be tempted by Sano but Sano was very much tempted by Megumi.

He found her bland statement of discrediting her feelings for him to be quite amusing, albeit a bit of a blow to his ego. Her direct words always amused him and he looked forward to any injuries he would obtain in fights just so that she could amuse him some more.

"Will I live then?" Sano started on a new topic easily, watching as she moved to stand in front of him again.

"Unfortunately."

Megumi paused.

"I shouldn't say that to a patient."

"Well, I'd hope I'm not just a patient. I'm Sano, after all." He tried on his best, debonair smile.

Which was completely lost on her. Megumi made an unflattering snorting noise.

"Yes, and you ignite the worst in me." Megumi frowned.

"Ah, a spark." Sanosuke nodded, enjoying the touch of her hands on his face again. "At least there's something between you and me."

"Honestly, Sano, I really wish there wasn't anything at all." Megumi finished her inspection and went off to write something into his file.

Sano took the moment to watch her. He had always been interested in watching Megumi. She was physically almost very still but there were little movements in her expression that made her look as if she was constantly moving. Megumi looked deep in thought as she bit on her bottom lip, drawing his attention to her red rouged lips.

There were many a meetings when he had imagined licking of the red from her lips.

Megumi looked up, as if reading his thoughts.

"You'll live. Though you should be careful with your ankle. You should rest it for a few days so that you don't do any worse damage." Megumi narrowed her brows. "You really need to rest it for awhile."

"Easy, kitsune," Sano enjoyed her bristling at the name, "I only fight to win and I'm clearly in no shape to win at the moment."

"I wish you'd stop." Megumi breathed under her breath.

It was barely audible but Sano was quick to hear it. The words made him inexplicably happy. So she wasn't completely indifferent to him!

"Don't worry. I'll heed your words, doctor." Sanosuke adjusted his headband, arranging it so that his hair was not in his eyes again.

"I never worry about you." Megumi spoke over her shoulder as she passed his file to one of her nurses.

'But you do.' Sano grinned to himself. 'You just don't know it yet.'

---

Megumi watched as Sano disappeared from sight, the last color always being that touch of red against the distance. She wondered at their banter, wondered why his easiness rankled her so. She wished he wasn't so distractingly handsome. Or so constantly, frustratingly oozing charm.

It made it extremely hard to focus on disliking him.

---

End of the 1st Sliver


	2. Of a Red Haze

A Sliver of Red

2nd Sliver: Of a Red Haze

---

Sano was walking down the street, minding his own business, when he saw her.

The 'her' in question was Takani Megumi, the older woman who had been a constant plague in his mind. A good kind of plague. In fact, if a plague was a newfound romantic disease, he would welcome it most happily – if only it didn't have the side effect of bringing him to a constant state of sexual dissatisfaction. She was, delicately put, sex on legs and had constantly traipsed about him- dangled in front of him like a sort of sweet denied to a young boy.

Sano felt hungry just looking at her.

At the moment, she was oblivious to his presence. It was most probably why she was laughing and moving with such unrestrained gaiety, her eyes brimming with mirth at a shared joke. She had never looked so carefree whenever he was around. She seemed to always be on her toes, her eyes wary and her smile sardonic should they ever grace her lips. Sano guessed that he rankled her nerves and though he was fine with that, he wondered what it would be like to have her be so relaxed when he was near.

He stopped for a moment, casually leaning against a wall that hid him from her view, watching her from afar. He didn't notice the friends that surrounded her, all he could really see was Megumi. She was talking rapidly, her red-painted lips in a constant smile and then without warning, her hands clapped together and she threw her head back to laugh. It was for a split second but Sano memorized the scene in his head: her long hair flowing about her like a curtain of night, her eyes closed, her long coat accentuating the curves of her figure as she slightly bent back with her laughter, the sound of it reverberating through him gently.

Megumi left soon enough but Sano kept staring at the spot where she had been standing, replaying the scene over and over again in his mind.

'Damn it.' Sano chided himself, a grin breaking on the corner of his lips. 'I'm stalking her.'

---

Sano managed to catch glimpses of Megumi four other times in the next three days. Each time, he would notice how short her shorts were or how flushed her cheeks were or thinking how her hair would look like other than just hanging down her back. He managed to steer away from her view just in time every time and was getting frustrated that he had to hide away to stow away memories of her unrestrained smiles.

By the fourth day, after a very vivid and mind-numbing dream that went into explicit details of what he would do with her short shorts, flushed cheeks and long, long hair, Sano didn't bother to skirt around the corner when he noticed Megumi coming his way.

Megumi was unaccompanied and seemed to be lost in her own world when her eyes caught his. He saw the moment when she noticed him and felt a stirring of want when her lips quirked into the slightest of smiles.

"Sano." Megumi sounded amused. "You look well and healthy."

"Megumi-sensei." Sano teased. "How interesting to see you without your white coat."

"Yes, well, after all your pestering, I deserve some time off work." Megumi gave him an easy smile.

Sano felt a bit lost at their comfortable exchange. He shook his head and plastered on a grin, determined not to be perturbed by the beautiful foxy doctor.

"Where are you off to?" Sano asked, motioning for her to follow him away from the path of passersby.

Megumi raised an eyebrow at him, her posture stiffening slightly. She seemed to be appraising him.

"Why do you ask?"

Sano gave a careless shrug but considered the phrasing of his words carefully.

"If you don't mind and if the place isn't a dread bore, I'd like to come along."

Megumi gave a laugh. "I went away from work to avoid the stress of your company not to haul you along with me."

Sano felt a quick pang to his hopes, feeling ridiculously disappointed. He caught himself before his face betrayed any of his quicksilver emotions. A teasing grin placed firmly on his lips, Sano nodded to nothing in particular and gestured to leave.

"Well then, I won't be in your way, Megumi-sensei." Sano gave an overtly extraordinary bow before turning to leave.

"Wait!"

Sano stopped in his movements, not daring to hope anymore as he turned a glance at Megumi. She was frowning.

"I didn't ask you to leave, did I?" Megumi's frown turned into a small smile. "I'm going to buy perfume. Maybe make-up too. Strictly female shopping."

Megumi cocked her head to one side, her lips blossoming into a tease of a smile that did fascinating things to his inner organs.

"Do you still want to come?"

"Well," Sano gathered his wits about him, keeping his tone cautiously casual, "I suppose you would probably need someone else to provide taste to your choices."

Megumi's smile brightened even more which made him lose more of his own thoughts.

"Sano, are you implying I have no taste?"

Not trusting his words or his state-of-mind, Sano managed a grin and a shrug.

"Then you've definitely got something to prove." Megumi turned from him and he realized that he was to follow her.

'Like a great, big slobbering dog.' Sano thought to himself, grinning at her back. 'Hell, I'd probably respond if she only whistled for me.'

Watching her waltz ahead of him, Sano didn't mind at all heeling to her demands so long as she kept on smiling that ruby red smile of hers.

---

Megumi had never been more stressed at shopping.

The usually lighthearted, carefree, stress-relieving activity had wrecked her nerves all because Sano gave a new meaning to 'sniffing around'. For he was, quite literally, sniffing around. Around her, to be more exact.

It seemed that he took every opportunity given to lean into her and to take in her scent. Granted, she was trying out perfume and he was supposedly trying to help but Megumi didn't think that most men would look quite so seductive doing it. She felt like some kind of aromatic steak and he was taking in the waft of the meal before actually digging in.

"Is this lavender?" Sano asked casually, picking up her hand by the wrist, leaning in so that his lips were resting oh-so-scarcely on her skin.

Megumi willed herself not to hold her breath.

'Breathe normally you idiot.' Megumi berated herself.

He raised his brown eyes to her and a grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"This makes you seem a bit too motherly."

"Motherly?!" Megumi barely managed to keep in her indignation. She didn't realized that it was only then she started to breathe (fume) properly again. Megumi snatched her hand away from Sano. "Lavender is supposed to be a calming scent – it's probably an emotion you don't even know of."

Megumi huffed away from Sano and away from the lavender-induced perfume. She didn't like the perfume anyways. She just didn't like being called 'motherly' – she was hardly old enough to even be considered 'motherly'. Really. The galls.

She was formulating a cutting comeback, something mocking yet at the same time witty and equally as seductive as the stares he'd been given her, when a small spray of perfume tickled her neck. Megumi turned and barely stopped herself from knocking into Sano's nose, which, along with the rest of his face, had somehow leaned very close into her neck and was taking in the scent of the perfume.

"Stop that." Megumi hissed, stepping out of his reach. She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to appear annoyed. "What do you think you're doing?"

"You should get this one." Sano motioned towards a particular perfume bottle. He gave her a smile that she couldn't read, "It suits you best."

"Since when did you become such an expert?" Megumi demanded, her good humor fading rapidly.

Without missing a beat, Megumi picked up the perfume bottle he had at his fingertips and tested the scent herself. She ignored the amused look Sano gave her and moved away from the counter, taking a note at the name of the perfume as she strolled to another part of the store.

She felt, rather than heard, Sano's quick steps following her. Megumi thought again about whether to walk out on the shopping expedition.

---

Sano watched as Megumi fumed to herself, her shoulders tense from barely restrained patience. He grinned to himself. Their bantering was back to normal.

He wondered if there was any way he could get her alone inside a dressing room…

---

End of 2nd Sliver

Notes: I wonder if I should do a sliver about a dressing room and these two people… Haha… This had been 98% finished for a long time but I got distracted. Thank you for all your reviews! It really spurred my to just finish it up~


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